Walter s



(No Model.) y

W. S. HARTLEY.

THILL COUPLING.

No. 527,148. Patented Oct. 9, 1894.

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UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFI WALTER s. HARTLEY, or LITTLE YORK, ILLINOIS.

. THILL -COUPLING.

sPEcIFIoA Ioiv forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,148, dated October 9, 1894.

Application filed February 15, 189%. Serial No. 500,231. (N 0 model.)

To all whom it mag concern Be it known that I, WALTER S. HARTLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Little York, Warren county, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Oouplings; and my preferred manner of carrying out the invention is set forth in the following full, clear, and exact description, terminating with claims particularly specifying the novelty.

This invention relates to carriages and wagons, and more especially to the thill couplings adapted to be used in connection therewith; and the object of the same is to produce improvements in detachable thill couplings having an anti-rattler combined therewith.

To this end the invention consists in the specific construction described below and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation of the left side of this improved thillcoupling with the parts connected. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the parts disconnected. Fig. 3 is a perspective detail.

Referring to the said drawings, the letter O designates a clip passing over the axle and having threaded lower ends to receive nuts N for clamping the clip plate P against the lower side of the axle; and the front end of this clip plate is continued into a spring S about of the shape shown which bows first downward and then upward. The upper end of this spring stands between ears E E preferably formed integral with the clip 0 and projecting forward therefrom, and this end of the spring bears forward against the eye I at the rear end of the thill iron T'.all as now common in devices of this character and forming no part of the present invention except when used in connection with the details described below.

Coming now to the present invention, one

of the ears E is provided with an eye 1 through which passes a short shaft 2 having a squared outer end 3 for the reception of a wrench; and the inner end of thisshaft has a crank 4 from whose other extremity extends a pin 5 of a size to pass through the eye I and preferably having a reduced outer end 6. The other ear I E is'provided with a notch or slot 7 struck on a curve around the center of the eye 1 in the first ear and remote from such center by the distance between the centers of the shaft 2 and the pin 5. It will be understood that both the thill couplings are formed in this waythat is to say, the notches 7 are in corresponding members of the two thill couplings, for instance, the left side thereof.

In connecting the shafts or a pole to thill couplings of this character, the parts are brought into the position shown in Fig. 2 after which the shafts are moved laterally so that each eye I passes onto the pin 5. A wrench is then applied to the squared end 3 and thesmall crank numbered 2, 4, 5 is turned over to the rear so that the eye is carried over against the tip of the spring S and continued movement bears the spring to the rear and permits the reduced end 6 of the pin to pass down into the notch or slot 7 as shown in Fig. 1at which time the eyeI has passed so far below the center of the shaft 2 that the forward pressure of the spring S bears the reduced end slightly downward into the bottom of the notch-7. Thereafter the eye can turn about the pin 5 and the spring will prevent rattling of parts. To disconnect the shafts from thiscoupling, it is only necessary to apply a wrench to the squared end 3 and turn it in such direction that the pin 5 will be raised, when its reduced end 6 will pass out of the notch 7 aroundv the dotted line indicated in Fig. 1, and the eye I will be forced upward past the tip of the spring S, as will be clear. After reaching the position shown in Fig. 2, the shafts and both eyes are moved bodily to the left so as to slip them off the pins 5. The cranks can then be entirely removed from the ears E if desired; or, if preferred, the outer ends of the shafts'2 could have shoulders or pins 10 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 to prevent their disconnection from the ears E, and these shoulders could be formed integral therewith or could be inthe shape of nuts screwed onto the projecting ends of these shafts.

Other details in the construction will suggest themselves to the skilled mechanic and maybe made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

All parts are of the desired sizes, shapes,

proportions, and materials-preferably metal.

What is claimed as new iseye and the other of which has a slot struck the clip having two' ears, one of which has an on a curve around the center of said eye and open at its upper end; of a crank comprising a shaft journaled in said eye, an arm at the inner end of the shaft, and a pin at the other end of the arm adapted to enter said-slot, and v a. thin-iron having an eye removably mounted on said pin, as and for the purpose set forth. 2. In a thill coupling, the combination with eye and the other of which has a slot struck on a curve around the center of said eye and open at its upper end; of a crank comprising a shaft journaled in said eye, an arm at theinner end of the shaft, and a pin at the other end of the arm adapted to enter said slot, a thill-iron having an eye removably mounted on said pin, and a spring connected with the clip and pressing said thill-iron-eye forward and downward upon the pin and the latter toward the bottom of said slot, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a thill coupling, the combination with the clip having two ears, one of which has an eye and the other of which has a slot struck on a curve around the center of said eye and open at its upper end; of a crank comprising a shaft journaled in said eye and having a squared outer end, an arm at the inner end of the shaft, and a pin at the other end of the arm having a reduced free end adapted to enter said slot, and a thill-iron having an eye removably mounted on said pin, as and for the purpose set forth.

4:. In a thill coupling, the combination with the clip having two ears, one of which has an eye and the other of which has a slot struck on a curve around the center of said eye and open at its upper end; of a crank comprising a shaft journaled in said eye and having a squared outer end, an arm at the inner end of the shaft, and a pin at the other end of the arm having areducedfree end adapted to enter said slot, a thilI-iron having an eye removably mounted on said pin, and a spring connected with the clip plate with its free end standing between said ears and curved behind the eye of the thin-iron so as to press said eye forward and to bear the reduced end of the pin into the bottom of the slot, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my signature on this the 10th day of February, A. D. 1894.

NVALTER S. HARTLEY.

Witnesses: l

JAMES DUGAN, H. A. REYNoLDs. 

